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Morning All! Sanity is restored, various alcoholic metabolites have been whizzed out of my system and coffee is an optional extra not a vital necessity.

However, it is the beginning of a 40 day health kick (I do these periodically). So no more booze or comfort fodder until May the 11th or so. I pity the fool who crosses me before I can relax with various intoxicants and indulgences again.

Try pretending that lettuce is as fun as bacon. Go on. I defy you to actually manage it. Mind you, all complaining and comedy aside, I do enjoy a good health kick. If I can sort myself out I can join my wife on her next half-marathon…which believe me is anathema to me. I have loathed distance running since earliest childhood. Other endurance sports have never been an issue, but distance running…eurgh. It’s a really massive personal hurdle.

There you go, how’s that for Topic of the TET Day? Name a personal hurdle that you would like to overcome, but historically have a bit of a nightmare with. I’m aiming for light, but, well, I can break out a couch and my Freud beard if needs be! ;-)

My 84-year old mom recently spent 12 days in hospital, with fluid in her lungs and a flu infection on top of that. The bill just arrived. Only ca. 700 Swedish kronor -roughly 100 USD. I love single-payer universal health insurance

I am now sitting at home waiting for the doctor’s office to open so I can go down and ask them to fill out some worker’s comp forms which, I’ll bet dollars to donuts, they will tell me that I can pick them up in 1 to 3 days which means that, legally, I shouldn’t have been at work yesterday and, without those papers, shouldn’t be there today doing what I did at work yesterday.

There has got to be a better way.

Oh. There is. And our lawmakers think it is evil.

Maybe that’s why the railroads over here are electrified…!

No, different needs. [[[WARNING — TRAIN NERDING]]]

There are some electrified lines in the US. Most lines, however, do not have the traffic loads to make converting to straight electric (as opposed to diesel electric) operations. It is only cost effective on relatively short and extremely high-density lines.

One of our local lines sees 6 to 8 freight trains per day. Each train is 60 to 100 cars being pulled by 2 to 6 locomotives. It is far more cost effectie to put the electric power generator on each locomotive than it is to put up, and maintain, the power lines. There are many places in the US where the railroad (a private company) would have to pay for, and install, their own electrical system for, in some cases, thousands of miles.

Some parts of the US system were, or are, electrified. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific’s route over the Cascades and the great divide were both electrified. They used a three-phase system that allowed for speeds of 6, 12, or 18 miles per hour. They also created a separate company to provide the power and signed a 99-year contract in which the railroad promised to buy 100% of the power produced (whether needed or not) at exhorbitant rates. Oddly, the CMStP&P was basically abandoned by the 1970s.

In much of Europe, the towns, cities, and, more important, the electrical grid, are much more compressed. Which means that electrification not only works, but is most likely more efficient.

[/TRAIN NERDING]

Child the tiny spread chocolate Nesquik all over the carpet, spread raspberry yogurt all over a bunch of other places, emptied a wardrobe of clothes on the floor, and twirled herself so tightly in the curtains that the curtain pole came off the wall.

No peanut butter sandwich in the VCR?

Air density 2.7 billion years ago limited to less than twice modern levels by fossil raindrop imprints

And an ID10t version of how this proves goddidit in 3 . . . 2 . . .

Yet, unless altered by disease, they’re able to withstand such stress almost indefinitely.

I hate “awareness” days too. “Wear red for awareness of women’s health issues!” Umm… why don’t you just set up a fucking donation? I can wear all the red and yellow and whatnot in the world. Everyone and their mom could wear special colors or have a ribbon and it wouldn’t do one lick of good in the end. Sure, they draw attention to the problem, but they don’t do anything else beyond that.

Plus some of the things are ridiculously stupid, in college we were told one day was “wear jeans for gay rights.” It didn’t matter if you were for or against gay rights, it was a nice spring day. Everyone (except people in shorts) was wearing jeans. The only way to show your solidarity with the event was to state “I’m wearing jeans because I’m for gay rights.”

Fucking “awareness campaign” days. I’m currently rampaging all over Twitter complaining about the uselessness of wearing a stupid color for stupid awareness days.

If they are just about wearing a particular item of clothing, or something of a particular colour then I agree they are useless.

However I do know of awareness days for medical conditions that aim to educate the public about a particular condition by getting coverage in the media and encouraging members of the public who are concerned to see their GP. Diabetes UK has run such days I know. It even had booths in shopping centres and workplaces where people could get tested.

Plus some of the things are ridiculously stupid, in college we were told one day was “wear jeans for gay rights.” It didn’t matter if you were for or against gay rights, it was a nice spring day. Everyone (except people in shorts) was wearing jeans. The only way to show your solidarity with the event was to state “I’m wearing jeans because I’m for gay rights.”

When the gay-rights-folk at local University did this, they meant to convey the notion that supporting gay rights should be the default. If you did not support gay rights but were wearing jeans, you would be put in the position of explaining yourself.
Too subtle?
—–
Ogvorbis
DVD player?
——-
Louis
Are you still witty and clever when sober?

Am I a bad person for sometimes not giving a shit if friends off themselves because they’re too fucking stupid to discern between reasonable treatments and the dumbass “nice” remedies that mark their tribe?

No. Then again, I’m too busy giggling at the use of “come” for “cum” in her spiel. Are you going to respond, or will you just ignore the missive?

Carlie: Gah, “awareness campaigns.” Do you remember the “Post a cartoon character to show you oppose child abuse” one? That didn’t even deserve the title of “slacktivism.” I don’t blame the people who posted images like Pedobear or Homer Simpson trying to choke Bart.

That’s kind of what I figured. It just seems a tad bit unfair – sort of a more confrontational atmosphere about the entire thing. Rather than making it an event about solidarity, it turns it into an event to confront those who aren’t following the party line. And besides the fact that it wasn’t very well advertised, there was the chance that some poor ally forgot or didn’t notice and decided today was a good day to wear khakis. So when this ally goes into the student union building he’s confronted about not wearing jeans, even though he supports the movement.

I think awareness campaigns shouldn’t force the default. Cause then you have asshats who disagree (like myself back then) more or less having to go around saying “I don’t agree with you, but I like wearing jeans” and allies who get harmed because they didn’t know what was going on.

Well, that makes sense, but why don’t just switch to decaf?
Seriously, although I like my caffeine surge (it’s the closest to drug addiction that I have), the difference to decaf isn’t like beer vs. non-alcoholic beer.
Also, espresso has the least amount of caffeine of all coffees. That’s because it’s usually a pretty dark roast (the darker the roast, the less caffeine. And apart from that, you’re drinking much less than in a normal cuppa.) A wonderful example of the placebo-effect, as you can see people become more agitated after drinking an espresso as opposed to a big cup of mildly roasted “stomach friendly” coffee.

I drove to work this morning content in the knowledge that I did so legally. I haven’t been sniffing the solvents in the lab and I promise I haven’t even touched the absolute ethanol or the amyl nitrate.

I can only apologise for the fact that you are getting the unadulterated me. I really am this disturbed/disturbing/both (delete as applicable).

A weird note: Why has my writing on these blogs become better than it was in the past? I’m writing these really good commentaries on stuff and I’m like “wait, where’d that come from?” I’m still harboring thoughts of my first few posts here where I was a simpering tool coming down from the fundamentalist Christianity I’d just abandonded.

However, it is the beginning of a 40 day health kick (I do these periodically).

I should do one of these too. Saw this guy of same age as me today in liver coma, family dad who got carried away with drinking, his liver is cactus for all times, and he used to drink far less than what I consume. Fuck that shit.

I should do one of these too. Saw this guy of same age as me today in liver coma, family dad who got carried away with drinking, his liver is cactus for all times, and he used to drink far less than what I consume. Fuck that shit.

Ouch.

I’m only 37 and I am definitely at the age where there are more than a few unlucky casualties. Given the genuine hedonism I occasionally indulge in I’m more than lucky to be here and healthy.

Mind you, as you well know, genetics/luck play a massive part. The beer that kills me might not kill you.

Got to see Richard Dawkins yesterday!He did a little talk in Bellevue thanks to the Northwest Free Thought Alliance. It was great to see so many people there! Even if I did wait ‘in line’ from 9am ’til the talk started at 3:30. *Twitch* Apparently I am the atheist equivalent of a Beattles fan! With less squealing and fainting. Just thought I would share.

Mind you, as you well know, genetics/luck play a massive part. The beer that kills me might not kill you.

On that note, the other drinker I saw today had a severe cardiomyopathy leading to bad heart failure at age 35. A condition my German collegues used to refer to as “beer heart”.
I know, right, I’m such a fountain of cheerfulness…..Let’s fetch another Beck’s.

Also, I seem to have developed a small cadre of christian followers on twitter. Oh dear. Im tempted to not block them. Just to see how fast they flee when they see exactly how…oh, whats the word im looking for? Blasphemous? Obnoxious? NSFW? How fast they flee. That works. Just to see how fast they decide to stop following me.

I know, right, I’m such a fountain of cheerfulness…..Let’s fetch another Beck’s.

That’s the spirit. After all, when observing the effects of serious drinking on other people and being concerned about the effects of one’s own drinking on oneself, I find the best solution is to drink though it and hope it All Goes Away.

Since they’re both delicious, I can only conclude that both beer and sugar are the work of the Devil*, and both make baby Jesus cry.

Seriously, I am so fucking sick of all of the stupid “health advice” that is floating around out there. No, I will not give up gluten or sugar or red meat or whathaveyou. I will not OD on vitamin D supplements. I will not replace chocolate with carob or milk with soy milk.

LOL. It was the delivery that earned the laugh points. Would like to see that in RL some day.

Dosis Sola Facit Venenum

Part of the anti-sugar story on 60 minutes did discuss dosage, with more than the recommended sugar per day for an adult in a single can of cola (or other sugary drink), and with extra evil points given to high fructose corn syrup.

Funny thing with most diet advice: eat more fruits and vegetables. Guess what most fruits are soaked in by nature? Sugars. Sucrose is isolated from either sugar cane or sugar beets, that is from vegetables. Honey is good for you. But the chemical composition of honey resembles high-fructose corn syrup. Your body can’t tell the difference of honey fructose from HFCS fructose.

What always sets off my scamdar is when the Dr./nutricianist also sells vitamins and other supplements.

Today I realized that I graduate in a year and I need to do some internships or volunteer work over the summer. So, basically, I need to get some experience in what I want to focus on in grad school… so now I just have to decide what I want to do with my life D:

I’m stuck between ecology and genetics…
I like both, but I enjoy genetics more. However, I could easily get work in ecology this summer and I already have some prior connections (working in an herbarium).
Someone help me :(

StarStuff: I’d say to focus on whatever you have less experience in, unless you have a strong preference. If one area has better summer research opportunities, go with that. It’s better to do actual research than to just to do grunt work for a summer.

I had basically the same conflict when I was choosing my Honours thesis topic. Ended up using genetic methods to answer an ecological question. It worked out pretty well, although I do wish I’d gotten more field experience before grad school.

Nerd
The way I understood it was that fruit is good for you in spite of the fructose. Because of vitamins and stuff.

RANT
Walton, don’t read.

Some people fucking deserve to be smashed with their heads into the wall and then again.
As I collected #1 from the kindergarten, one of her friends was also leaving. Three kids, the mother and the dog in the backseat of the car, not a seatbelt, let alone a proper kiddy-seat between the lot of them.
If anything happens and those poor kids get hurt, they will, of course, think that they, the poor parents, are victims and deserve help and compassion and the rest of the world needs to treat them with lots of consideration because of what they are suffering instead of slamming their head into a wall as they deserve.
No, I don’t approve of slamming people’s heads into concrete walls, but I approve of the sentiment.
[/rant]

The way I understood it was that fruit is good for you in spite of the fructose. Because of vitamins and stuff.

One of my favorite posts about food and nutrition is by Kate Harding, here. (referencing sugar etc. coming along with the fruit/veg) Best quote:

a spinach salad with egg, bacon, croutons, and dressing ON the salad, instead of ferried over to it in tiny droplets on the end of my fork, feels nearly as “indulgent” as a piece of chocolate cake — but you know what it’s got that chocolate cake doesn’t? A BIG FUCKING PILE OF SPINACH.

I tried to make meringue cookies for the first time yesterday. I have no idea what they’re supposed to be like – these have the texture of a giant rice krispy. Is that right, or did I overcook them?

They say you’ll bring down Armageddon
They say you’ll break the Seventh Seal
Well I hope you bring down Armageddon
Cause through the fire and the brimstone
At least I’ll finally know you’re real
Real, real, real! Oh!

Oh Lord! How can it be?
That you won’t talk to me?
Oh woe, woe’s me, poor me

Josh, I know a person with mitral valve prolapse who kept partying with meth. I finally pulled his most reasonable meth-pal aside and told him to stop fucking offering him that shit. He also has bipolar 1. He was just hankering for a self-destruct, I guess.

Giliell, you’re probably right about our domestic partnership :-)

In Cute Things Toddler Says™ today we’ve got “Can I have a down, please?” when she doesn’t want to be held.

My 84-year old mom recently spent 12 days in hospital, with fluid in her lungs and a flu infection on top of that. The bill just arrived. Only ca. 700 Swedish kronor -roughly 100 USD. I love single-payer universal health insurance

I couldn’t even visit the emergency department for that little. With the BCBS Gold insurance coverage from my employer. As someone who is now self-employed I literally cannot purchase–for any amount of money–a plan that would get me coverage even as good as that.

carlie, I feel you on “awareness” days. The only people who know what the fuck the color is supposed to even mean are the people who are already aware. It needs to be something more outrageous, like a sandwich board that says, “Ask me about myasthenia gravis!” or something.

Because I’m struggling to find the motivation to complete the last leg of this stupid project (I’ve been working overlapping projects for 3 months now, and it’s been ridiculous and I have no life and I hate it), I am going to reward myself with this if I can make myself finish it by the end of the week.

I’m not much of a fashionista, and I rarely buy anything new (let alone for that kind of cash), but I really like it, dammit, and nothing else is working to get my ass back in the saddle.

If this fails to work, I’m quitting my life and becoming PZ and Mary’s cook and laundress.

The National Science Foundation sponsors loads of REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) programs each year in diverse fields. These are programs that provide both training and a stipend for interns, and are (IMHO) one of the best sources of undergraduate training that there is. Most programs application deadlines have unfortunately passed, but you should get in touch ASAP with an appropriately inclined faculty member, and see if xe know of any such opportunities.

While this is not my field of specialty per se, I have advised graduate and undergraduate students working in conservation/population genetics—I might could help you out.
Contact cpr003atshsu.edu– Of course, replace “at” with @.

I am willing to accept (with appropriate evidence) that sugar and red meat consumption have deleterious long-term health effects (not that I will stop eating them), but the news stories often have headlines like “Red meat causes death”, and the first thought I have is that we are all going to die, eating or not eating certain things will not prevent that. This focus on . . . purity(?) is annoying, a sort of victim blaming, with the thought that if only you just do everything right, you will live forever.

I know that this attitude is not new in either religion or whatever “wellness” dipshits are selling, but both of my parents have chronic diseases that will kill them eventually, and the positive attitude bullshit they encounter aggravates them and just plain infuriates me.

In short, people are afraid of death and that makes them do and say stupid things

Back in LA. Don’t want to be. Would rather be just about anywhere else. But classes started today.

My schedule’s pretty neat! I have class every day at ten, which is a little earlier than I’d like (not because ten is so early but because it’s just slightly too early for me to know I can consistently get there on time), and then Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class at eleven, Tuesdays I have a seminar from 2 to 4, and Fridays I have bellydance from 12:30 to 1:30. That’s a really light schedule honestly and I should be okay even with the terrifying load of Latin I have to translate and the paper and the secondary reading.

Thanks for the info, Audley! chigau – it’s created entirely from egg whites. I cheated a bit and threw in some cream of tartar, even though the recipe didn’t call for it. There are lots of air bubbles, but they’re all small to medium. Sounds like I’m on the right track, at least! Jules, it had cocoa powder and mini chocolate chips in it. I thought the chips might be too heavy, but they didn’t seem to deflate the foam much.

Josh, the lamps look beautiful, as does the decorating and kittehs. You might be able to find/make a reflector, (polished metal or mirror), that can convert a non-shaded one into a nice reading lamp.

I made a holder for my candles on my sailboat so that a horizontal flattened brass ring sat on top of the candle and lowered with the candle to keep the arm with the hyperbolic mirror steady behind the flame. One candle power was bright enough to read by. At the focal distance. If you moved the page slightly. Kinda like reading by a penlight, but electrical power on a sailboat is a precious commodity.

I made another holder that has 180 deg of vertical mirror slices joined together by stained glass method to provide general illumination. Who needs to throw that useless back facing light away?
+++++++++++++++
“I drink less than your average touring rugby team.”

Summed or averaged? And if averaged, I bet it’s the mean drunk.
+++++++++++++++
I only run when I’m chaste. I think it’s called sublimation.
+++++++++++++++
“Then again, I’m too busy giggling at the use of “come” for “cum””

Sounds like a randophile homophone searching for a homynym. also, too.
+++++++++++++++
“Why has my writing on these blogs become better than it was in the past?”

And the difference is?
+++++++++++++++
“Three kids, the mother and the dog in the backseat of the car, not a seatbelt, let alone a proper kiddy-seat between the lot of them.
If anything happens and those poor kids get hurt, they will, of course, think that they, the poor parents, are victims and deserve help and compassion and the rest of the world needs to treat them with lots of consideration because of what they are suffering”

Yes, prosecuting them and putting them in prison, which is a USAian thing, works so much better. (Please understand that I am agreeing with you but pointing out worse outcomes.)

*snuggles* for The Walton.
–
If your peas have split, then you have no peas; and this is a great goodness, nearly on par with having crispy bacon.
–
My D-i-L has some sort of small shepherd dog. When it was a pup, it would try to herd their 3 cats. Major funny to watch. Eventually she figured out that that was never gonna work, and gave it up.

:D
–

Can’t chippie/chippy also be a derogatory term for a woman of whose sexual behaviour the speaker presumes to disapprove? (like “tart”) (I think this last may actually be a US import?).

Yup. A prostitute. I never knew there was any other meaning.
–
Y’all need to figure out who’s going to do Jules’ dishes—so I can send mine over to visit.
:)
–

Sounds like a great schedule, CC! I hope it’s a light enough load to let you get everything done you need to do. I always overdid it in school (and also still now because I’m dumb and can’t turn down work), but my last semester I only did something like 16 credits, and it was so much better. Unfortunately, I was completely burnt out by then and so it wasn’t as freeing as it could’ve been. *sigh* And I never, ever learn to take it easy.

carlie, I love the meringue texture so much that I never add anything else to it that could alter it. Well I guess I did candy canes once. But I like their stickiness.

It’s different parts in different files. I think the problem may be my stupid publisher’s insistence on using rich text format for saving files but their utter disregard for getting authors to start out with it. The authors write it and save it in Word 2010 or whatever, using various templates from whichever newer version of Word, and then it all gets fucked up when I save it in rtf. I end up having to remove all the presaved styles and re-input them manually.

*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*

What happens when you complain about this to your publisher?

Note to self: Salamanders are a subset of newts

Other way around.

I’m taking applications for a domestic partner. I’ll do the cooking and laundry (and maybe floors) if you’ll handle dishes, the lawn, and general clutter. Half of all bills, your own room, and my undying love*.

– No lawn.
– Cooking only on weekends; during the week I eat in the cafeteria.
– Enough room.
– I sit in the museum all day long, in front of a big screen, surrounded by a minimum of 5 papers at any time, plus a couple of natural-mold fossils and the latex casts made from them.

How does that sound in your head?

Small town means I could cook up a sex scandal.

The deliciousness of that will perhaps make up for the other limitations.

…Yeah, Berlin can’t compete with that.

I don’t do the dishes. It’s the one chore I swear off. But I suppose I could be talked into it as long as the yard work was handled and there was a decent chocolate allowance.

Last time I bought chocolate, I bought 8 bars, 1.6 kg in total. So, given that there’s no yard work, how about you rinse the dishes that I’ve already licked clean (as far as anatomically possible), and I wipe the floors?

…is someone offering housing? I do dishes every chance I get, volunteer at things, clean up after animals and sometimes sing loudly while working. <_< …I just hide under things a lot.

Hm. Singing wouldn’t be good, the walls and floors are carefully designed for maximum sound conductance, and the rooms for maximum echo. But I do have a big table to hide under, a bed to hide under (I’ll get the dust out first), and a big cupboard to disappear in. The sleeping bag, BTW, is in the cupboard.

Each train is 60 to 100 cars being pulled by 2 to 6 locomotives.

Wow. 2 is common over here, but I’ve never seen more.

It is far more cost effectie to put the electric power generator on each locomotive than it is to put up, and maintain, the power lines.

Surprises me.

They used a three-phase system that allowed for speeds of 6, 12, or 18 miles per hour.

~:-| That’s… nothing?

exhorbitant

Exorbitant – out of orbit, or at least out of the orbis terrarum (“circle of lands” – Earth).

Last time I bought chocolate, I bought 8 bars, 1.6 kg in total. So, given that there’s no yard work, how about you rinse the dishes that I’ve already licked clean (as far as anatomically possible), and I wipe the floors?

Ooooo…this is my favorite! And you’re in Berlin. I only spent about 2 weeks there, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And the accent contains phonemes much friendlier to my USian tongue.

Looks like DDMFM is offering the best deal, y’all. Adding in his redheaded Spockly goodness seals it.

Great. Great. Who wants to bet that this shit is going to fucking escalate over the next few months?

No bet. Especially if Romney gets the nomination and Santorum runs an independent campaign against the cultists.

No, I don’t approve of slamming people’s heads into concrete walls, but I approve of the sentiment.

Had one of those moments today. I was sitting in the car while Wife worked her street corner and a Kia Rio two door pulled up and nine small children piled in.

But I also figure, why beat up the poor wall?

This focus on . . . purity(?) is annoying, a sort of victim blaming, with the thought that if only you just do everything right, you will live forever.

I sometimes wonder if stories like this are linked to those who think that health insurance is only for those who don’t need it because, if you need it, you must have abused your body by doing x, y, z and r.

I never knew there was any other meaning.
–

Are there any words that don’t have a rule 34 attached?

Surprises me.

Keep in mind, these are for-profit companies which means that the potential ROI needs to be fast.

~:-| That’s… nothing?

It was also installed around 1911 and got the very heavy trains up and over some very long 2% grades.

One of the things I hate most about the local culture here is the incredibly deep distrust for all government. It causes so many problems. Spouse is frustrated at how it hinders child nutrition programs, but it also means no one is checking up on whether home schooled children are even still being taught a fucking thing instead of being taught how to work.

“I wasn’t done with school, I didn’t feel like I was finished. I wanted to keep going,” said Barlow, a voracious reader who as a child devoured biographies of famous Americans. “I didn’t want to be in construction when I was as old as my father.”

His father put him to work anyway. Had he been in public school, a sudden absence might have been noticed. But Barlow, now 23, grew up in a Utah-Arizona border town as a member of the polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs.

Like all young members of the sect, he was pulled out of public school in 2000 at Jeffs’ order. Children in the sect are educated at home.

And in both states, the government stays out of home-schools. Utah school districts are forbidden from making parents keep records of instruction or attendance, requiring them to have any teaching qualifications or testing home-school students.
…“The idea that government should be the ultimate authority over educating children is bogus,” said Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, sponsor of a 2005 bill to keep government out of home-schools. “If we’re going to use government resources and focus government attention on solving problems, let’s go where the problems really exist.”
…Joseph Broadbent, now 23, said his father ended his education at age 13 or 14.

“I begged him and begged him to [let me] finish the 10th grade,” Broadbent said. Instead, he learned the welding business.

Broadbent said he also suffered physical abuse at home and left the sect about six years ago. When the construction work dried up, he made plans to get his GED.

But the years out of school took their toll. He has taken the test four times and failed. For now, he is back to welding.
…
Some 400 young people who have left or been forced out of the FLDS sect over eight years have come to the nonprofit Diversity Foundation for help, according to director Shannon Price.

the first thought I have is that we are all going to die, eating or not eating certain things will not prevent that.

You know the old joke?
-Doctor what do I have to do to live forever?
*Stop smoking, drinking and having sex.
-Will I live forever?
*No but it will feel like eternity

+++++The Sailor
My reasonable idea is to confiscate their cars.
Revoking custody seems like a bad idea because if they cared about those children at all they wouldn’t transport them like that.

+++++
Also, today I got adopted.
While on the playground I met our old neighbour who suffers heavily from dementia.
She started chatting away in Russian and I had to stop her.
“Mrs So…, I don’t speak Russian, you have to speak German to me.”
“That’s nonsense, of course you do, all my children speak Russian!”
At that point the little one intervened, proclaiming angrily that I was indeed not a child but her mummy!
And our neighbour was sad because she had just lost a daughter and two wonderful grandchildren.
For about 5 minutes until she forgot.
I seriously don’t know what her actual daughter is thinking how long this can go on.
I mean, I don’t mind being occasionally called to pick the right key to unlock the door, confirm that, yes indeed this is her flat, and no, nobody will buy it, and our dog didn’t return due to its nonexistence.
But I worry about her.

In, and this is important, the opposite direction from the direction in which the DVD spins in the player. Otherwise, there is danger of over-winding your player by jamming the gears, which will make it stop working, much as in the case of an over-wound watch.
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…many believed the San Diego legislator — young, photogenic, articulate, an Iraq combat vet — had the potential to help lead the California GOP out of the darkness, out of its deep funk. But last week he bolted and became a no-party independent, fed up, he said, with partisan pettiness in the state Capitol.

The tipping point for Fletcher came last fall when he negotiated with Gov. Brown to eliminate a corporate tax break that rewarded companies for not building facilities and creating jobs in California. The $1-billion savings would have provided tax breaks for small businesses, buyers of manufacturing equipment, and income tax payers who don’t itemize. Republicans blocked the bill. GOP colleagues told Fletcher, he says, that “‘It may be the right thing to do, but we can’t let Jerry Brown get a win,’ which is just dumb.”

Frustrated at his inability to isolate sufficient supplies of uranium, David turned his attention to thorium-232, which when bombarded with neutrons produces uranium-233, a man-made fissionable element […] David knew from his merit-badge pamphlet that the “mantle” used in commercial gas lanterns–the part that looks like a doll’s stocking and conducts the flame–is coated with a compound containing thorium-232. He bought thousands of lantern mantles from surplus stores and, using the blowtorch, reduced them into a pile of ash. [chemistry happens, and] Eureka! David’s method purified thorium to at least 9,000 times the level found in nature and 170 times the level that requires NRC licensing.

Somebody linked a few TETs ago to the excerpt from Jenny “The Bloggess” Lawson’s new book. I just got around to reading it now and I nearly peed myself. Apparently if you work in HR, you have to learn how to ask an employee the question “Is this your penis?” without laughing as you hand him a print-out of the email he sent to another employee.

When it comes to homophobes, it has gotten to the point that very little surprises me. (For example, Scott Lively will be address a Tes Party gathering. Damn, did not see that one coming.) But sometime I am left perplexed by the point being made. Checkout this cartoon that was tweeted by an ex-gay pastor. It show two hippos dressed in pink beating a man while it is paired with a pro LGBT rights quote from Coretta Scott King.

Than the southern German accent (I spent the bulk of my time near Augsburg). The ch sound is vocalized a bit less at the back of the throat, more like the English k sound. My German friends were all very friendly about my attempts, but I find it physically uncomfortable to speak with the southern accent (much like I find saying the word y’all physically uncomfortable).

That’s funny, because this native of upstate NYS uses y’all pretty regularly, just because I’m annoyed that English doesn’t have a distinction between you-singular and you-plural like French does. Also I picked up saying “reckon” from the Kiwis when I was in New Zealand.

It makes me feel like I’m going to vomit, Sally. It does this weird grating thing in the back of my throat. It’s not because of cultural associations. It’s because I have the world’s most sensitive gag reflex.

I almost throw up every time I brush my teeth, and I’m not shoving the toothbrush in there very far.

That’s funny, because this native of upstate NYS uses y’all pretty regularly, just because I’m annoyed that English doesn’t have a distinction between you-singular and you-plural like French does. Also I picked up saying “reckon” from the Kiwis when I was in New Zealand.

We had a distinction where I grew up: “you” was singular, “ye” was plural

Neither do I — not anymore, anyway. I used it on scienceblogs, it was disabled in comments for Ftb, and now it’s apparently back — but there must be a new code or whatever it’s called. Could someone explain it to me in simple language?

According to the article, the shooter is a former student. My guess is OMG, HE TURNED TO SATANISM!!

So he still believes in invisible beings that have never interfaced with reality.

“If we’re going to use government resources and focus government attention on solving problems, let’s go where the problems really exist.”

You mean by focusing on people who believe that a magical being will make everything right no matter how much we fuck up the world? Sounds like a problem that actually exists to me.

Some 400 young people who have left or been forced out of the FLDS sect over eight years

Do they happen to mention how many are male?

Unplug it, hold it in your arms and spin around really fast.

Never expected a Rule 34 answer to that one.

Also, today I got adopted.
While on the playground I met our old neighbour who suffers heavily from dementia.

We have been adopted by a 90-year-old woman who lives two houses down. She is sweet, funny, a sharp as a tack. Though she does occasionally lapse into either Polish or Engpolish.

Pour them a gin and tonic, encourage them to put their feet up, put their favourite music on, if your relationship is sufficiently close, give them a relaxing massage…

Yet another Rule 34 answer. Who knew that DVDs could be such a hotbed of sex?

much as in the case of an over-wound watch.

I am 46 years old and have never had a watch that needed to be wound. I wonder how many commenteers had a mental ‘huh’ moment?

“”‘It may be the right thing to do, but we can’t let Jerry Brown get a win,’” which is just dumb.”

But typical.

Category error!

Is that better or worse than a +++OUT OF CHEESE ERROR+++?

No. PB is not allowed in the house, and the VCR only takes Fig Rolls.

Yet another sex joke about DVDs. I may have to check these things out.

(Apparently this can also be done by sticking a hexagonal pencil in the hole in the middle, and, erm, artfully twizzling.)

Is it always sex with you people?

I thought that DVDs just played all the way through and started over again, like 8-tracks.

Nope. Mine would always jump to a different track during “Comfortably Numb.” Every damn time. Stupid potholes.

I never want to hear Away In A Manger again.

When I was about four, I apparently sang the first line of “Jingle Bells” all the way from Las Vegas, NV to Death Valley, CA. I am often amazed that my sisters let me live. I think I used to be quite annoying.

(I’m going to try to ramp down my internet use in general.)

I can understand that. Be safe.

We had a distinction where I grew up: “you” was singular, “ye” was plural

I think it did for a while. Of course, that was in the 1600s. You know, when Dr. Myers was young?

No, I will not give up gluten or sugar or red meat or whathaveyou. I will not OD on vitamin D supplements.

Funny this list should begin with gluten and end with vitamin D: My wife must avoid gluten if she wants to avoid persistent diarrhea (we proved this to ourselves through years… nearly decades… of empirical study), and my doctor has just diagnosed me (using real, scientific blood analysis) with a significant vitamin D deficiency, which she thinks may be responsible for my sky-high triglycerides.

It’s a weird sort of mixed blessing when one’s real medical/nutritional needs overlap with egregious woo: Often when my wife orders gluten-free stuff, or I mention to someone that she needs it, we get that “oh, another one of those wackos” look from people[1]… but if it weren’t for those wackos, there’d be a hell of a lot less stuff in the markets (or on restaurant menus) that she could safely eat. My rational/skeptic side wishes the food faddists would smarten up; the selfish part of me is kinda’ glad they don’t.

***
[1] It’s amusing when she orders a burger with no bun: Waiters seem to assume she’s on some sort of low-carb diet (Atkins or such), and then are surprised and confused that, yes, she does want fries with that, thank you very much.

PZ: There’s a creobot Poe over on the latest creationism thread. You might want to take a look.

PZ: There’s a creobot Poe over on the latest creationism thread. You might want to take a look transfer it to TZT and let us take it from there.

FIFY

@ Josh

I am baking with Phoeniciatje this morning and taking pictures of the process so that you can compare. (I hope Her Immaculate Resurrection from that near-death experience has fully restored Her to Life.)

and the gloves, never forget THE GLOVES!
… or …
“What, and leave show business!?”
++++++++++++++++++++
I liked the nodogsonthebeach comic, I can relate. My rat hasn’t been around for weeks. Except for the feral and non-rent-paying aspects it was just like a roommate. Oh, wait.

{Looks around at gigantic blaze from theophontes’s hetacomb} What did I tell you about offering burnt sacrifices on TET? This thread is full of recipe cards, booze, secks, tea, and food. In other words, this is a very flammable thread theophontes!

My mother says y’uns (pronounced yens). No one else in my hometown did that. It was just something her family said. I think they got it from some branch of the family back East.

I have seen this spelled “yinz”.

Sayeth the Pfft!: “…used mainly in southwest Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, but it is also found throughout the Appalachians.” And also: “Because there are still speakers who use each form, there is no stable second-person plural pronoun form in southwest or central Pennsylvania—which is why this pronoun is variably referred to or spelled as you’uns, y’ins, y’uns, yunz, yuns, yinz, yenz, yins or ynz.”

@ Josh – for the reflector you need at least a 4″x8″ of 3-32nds” brass sheetmetal. In can be done with steel or aluminum, but not recommended for newbies.

Use a Drimmel saw blade to cut the brass in an full ankh shape (no inner diameter hole) with the round part 4″ diameter and the handle about 3/4″ wide, with cross bar about 1″ below the circular part. (It can be snipped, but the Drimmel is faster and smoother.) This needs to be adjusted to the actual lamp throat.

Clamp the handle with in a soft pad and securely fix horizontally.

Next, take a 8″ diameter bowl and scribe the circular segments at 2″ chord, 4″ chord and 6″ chord on a the 4″ side of a 2″x4″ (Kinda like ))), but each one is deeper.

Then using a jig/scroll saw cut out the 2″ circular section of the wood. Sand to taste. This is your mandrel. Soft pine works best.
Strike a ball peen hammer (or even better sheet metal hammer with a curved face) with the peen side and start whacking just inside of where the brass meets the circle. Then work your way down slowly. Strike slightly obliquely but mostly inwards.

Keep rotating the wood/metal slightly as you hammer. Do it slowly, you don’t want to work-harden the brass. It’s firmly tap, tap, tap, not POUND, POUND,. Always work flat at the very top and then pinch down slightly towards the bottom. You need more material at the bottom because it will be stretched the farthest.

If you do work harden the brass, heat it over a gas stove or a fireplace till cherry red. and then beat it some more.

Continue until you have a peened circular section in the center of the circle and it fits sorta smoothly in the wood mold.

Next Take the saw and cut the next circle. Sand to taste.

Repeat as above. You are going to have 2″ dimple in a 4″ mold. Tap the edge onto the rim. Join it to the dimple. Don’t hit hard, hit often. Gradually beat it down, adjusting your angle to try to work the brass where it needs to go.

Cut the 6″ section, and repeat. And repeat.

Your whole project will be wanting to curl in, ignore the handle cross for now.

Assuming you have a disk, flatten the handle out at 90 deg to the chord of the dish you just made.

Now polish the shit out of the beaten inner surface. As you polish it you probably see individual hammer marks. Live with them for character or pound them smoother.

Bend the handle by hand to conform below where the reflector would be centered to match the shape of the lamp throat. Wrap the arms around the throat to keep the reflector in place but still have access to pull off the chimney to change fuel and wicks.

The whole fam-damily are heading over now, and from different directions. Spouse’ll be coming down from Sydney, the rest from various parts of NZ. The gels and I hit town on Thurs., and boyo hits town midday Friday.

Drinks at a place called Chloe’s you say? I’m not heading to the formal dinner, (no PZ, and maybe having to make do with Lawrence Krauss? Things have come to a pretty pass, I must say.) Eldest gel in particular would love to say Hi to PZ though, if at all possible. Pweeez.

Alethea and drbunsen, you still up for a casual night out? We’re bringing our twelve-year-old too, now, so we’ll be tag parenting.

A break is welcomed, after three years of pollyannaish, “I will NOT become cynical!” notes to self, the realisation that every bureaucracy turns out to be just like the last, has struck. And here’s my fire-setting skills gotten all rusty.

Walton
Take all the time you need.
You’re working intensly, everybody can see that

Markita
No, the daughter knows very well how her mother is. She’s living in the house here and takes the main burden, as when the mother becomes frightened and such.
I know it’s complicated. Getting her into a nursery home would probably destroy all the enjoyment she still has in life and leave her totally frightened.